Day Three Hundred and Fifty-six - Dr.Who: Series 4, Episodes 12-18, "The Last Great Battles of The Tenth Doctor..."

...not to mention his companions all make appearances, everyone from Sarah Jane to Martha to Jack to Rose-freaking-Tyler, herself.

The first episode of this long slog to the advent of the Eleventh is entitled Turn Left and features Donna almost exclusively as she gets attacked by some sort of "potentiality consuming" beetle that feeds on the alterations to a timeline that could change a persons life... like say Donna turning left for a job closer to home than the temp gig that introduced her to The Doctor. That one choice leads not only to The Doctor's death (without regeneration) after the Christmas confrontation with the Racnoss and the other major battles on modern Earth. With each Doctor-less dilemma, more and more of Earth's heroes lose their lives to stem the tide of destruction.

This is a fun concept episode to watch, especially since the writers decided to pay particular attention to the causality issues of The Doctor being absent. With no Doctor there would be no Yana regeneration into The Master, which means no Saxon. What I don't get is how Rose manages to avoid the causality shifts and knows why Donna is the focal point.

After Donna pulls it back together and dies for her regular self, she and The Doctor have to confront an ancient enemy that has stolen the entire Earth, along with dozens of other planets from space and time, in order to destroy all of reality that doesn't please them. Any guesses as to who? I mean, it could be any number of enemies, but it's the Daleks. Of course it's the Daleks.

It's a two-parter that drags the conflict out with lots more cameos from companions past. Sarah Jane, Captain Jack, Mickey, Rose, Jackie, and even Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister) defy the Daleks and Davros himself in order to save the Doctor and the world... but that's not all, thanks to an almost death at the end of a Dalek egg-beater, the Doctor regenerates not only his severed hand, but Donna as well, giving her his mind and his doppelganger a human heart... as well as all of his memories and experiences.

It's rather hilarious to see The Doctor Donna fasttalk her way through typical Whovian MacGuffin speak and easily defeat/confound/spin the Daleks. I also rather like the episode because it gives lots of action to all of the various companions that the Tenth has had over the years. Because of it all, I actually found myself enjoying seeing Mickey and Jackie. Maybe it's because they weren't daft idiots the whole time, actually proving useful with their guns and teleporters. Maybe it's because of nostalgia. I don't know. Either way, I was fairly happy with them... all of them. It was just the actual Dalek Doomsday itself that was silly and stupid.

After another tearful sendoff for Rose, et al., The Doctor goes back in time to the mid-18th century where The Cybermen have some grand plan in the works and it's up to The Doctor... both of them... to stop it. At first, it seems like The Doctor has caught up with some future incarnation of himself, but as time goes on, the truth is revealed that it's just a brainscramble that's tricked a local human into thinking he's The Doctor.

It's a cute episode to see a degenerated almost-Doctor trying to fight evil with his "sonic" screwdriver and inflatable TARDIS ballon, but that's all it is, really... cute. For the most part, the villains are boring and pedantic as we've all seen Cybermen before, this episode only taking a few new slants like the cat/dog Cybers, the female Cyberking, and the giant Cyber robot. It's all so much sound a noise. Spectacle to cater to the fans with no real substance.

The Waters of Mars, however, this is prime soft-scifi material worthy of The Outer Limits. The Doctor travels to mid-twenty-first century Mars where he encounters the first human colonists on the day of their deaths. It seems the commander of the mission is fated to trigger a nuclear explosion that wipes them and their base off the face of the Red Planet. The Doctor discovers that its their fate, a fixed moment in time, to die running from a sentient water virus... and has the hubris to defy the rules of paradox and help the survivors.

While I may enjoy the cheese and melodrama of other episodes, it's The Waters of Mars that makes the series for me. It shows The Doctor as having as much arrogance as the rest of us humans and, despite the guise of his immortality and alien-ness, The Doctor is a most compelling HUMAN character. It's not necessarily a fun or well-written episode, what with its one-off villain being so bad, conceptually, but the moral questions it begs are tremendous.

Last, but not least, is the two-parter that sends David Tennant off and welcomes Matt Smith as The Eleventh. After falling from grace, The Doctor gets a visit from Ood Sigma and races off to commune with the Ood for a warning about the return of The Master. Events have been set in motion (and retconned on the freaking fly by Timothy Dalton) to bring the Timelords trapped in the Time Lock back. It's all just one loop. The Timelords, The Master, Earth... everything is shoe-horned together in order to present The Tenth with a single choice: murder his race again or doom the entire universe.

Easy choice, that, I think... but it's all so much noise again, cheap melodrama with no actual worth aside from nostalgia. It's nice to see all of the companions for a second time this season as The Tenth has enough time before regenerating to hop in the TARDIS and see them all. I think my favorite was Jack and Alonso at a deep space Mos Eisley.

At the end of the fourth series and the last of David Tennant's run (save for his series 7 cameo with John Hurt), I find myself both content and disgusted. There are far better series out there and Doctor Who can be fun, but it's so very stupid half the time, with all of its handwaving. These are arguments that I should probably save till I'm well and done (hopefully by the end of the year), but I still feel a little bummed even now.

Still, miles to go before I sleep. As Tennant's Doctor would say... Alons-y!

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

9!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-nine - Dr.Who: Series 2, Episodes 12-14, "The End of an Era... Hooray! Rose is Gone!"

I haven't exactly been the most ardent supporter of Doctor Who's revival, as you may have noticed, and Billy Piper has been one of my least favorite companions, to be sure. That said, I am a little sad to see her go. While she hasn't exactly thrilled me with her performance as Rose Tyler, as both her and her mother Jackie are annoyingly chav-tastic, when you spend so much time with a person, you kind of grow attached to them, annoyance or not.

It's rather like getting a little sad when Wesley left for the Academy in TNG. Sure, he was the whiny, least interesting member of the crew and most every fan was happy to see him leave, but you also sort of missed him, too.

In any case, the first episode of tonight's binge isn't Piper's last ride, it's a weird one about a sentient plant that can create its own imagination worlds and can draw living beings into said worlds... at the behest of a little, traumatized girl who has nightmares about her dead, abusive father and doesn't want to be alone. The episode also happens to coincide with the beginning of the 2012 Olympics (the episode aired years earlier in 2006) where The Doctor and Rose are on the case, trying to save everyone involved.

Of course, they do... it IS Doctor Who and all. Well, let me dial that back a bit. THIS time they manage to save everyone. To be honest, it's kind of surprising how often people buy it in Doctor Who, and even more surprising that everyone makes it here. Sure, they're mostly kids, which makes it easier for the writers/producers to justify, but still.

Moving on, the next two are a pair of connected episodes that really do chronicle the last stand of Rose Tyler as she, The Doctor, and the collective Torchwoods of two dimensions attempt to fight off the forces of both the Cybermen and the Daleks reborn.

It seems that the Cybermen from the world where they left Mickey half a season ago have escaped their world and are primed to take over Rose's by first infiltrating then using the overzealous Torchwood Institute to bring them through the Void between universes. Unbeknownst to them, there's a Void Ship sitting at the bottom of the Institute filled with Daleks who escaped the lockdown during the Time War. Both are devastating enemies and both are on the loose... and it's only The Doctor, Rose, Jackie, Pete, and Mickey who can save both worlds.

Fun ain't it?

It's just as silly the rest of the series, to be sure, and the emotive moments that come from the end of Rose's tenure as The Doctor's companion are more than a bit trite, but it's also bittersweet. I mean, their steady climb up relationship mountain has never been believable, and it's not like they didn't know this day was coming (or should have, anyway), but the Wesley effect does maintain.

I like how they deal with the Pete/Jackie issue and it's cute how there's a lone Cyberman holdout who kinda-sorta saves the day, but the last second save of Rose is pretty stupid.

On the whole, while I have a few mild regrets that Billy Piper has left the building and it is the end of an era, I always did like Martha more and I'm that much closer to Amy and River Song. Plus, it's nice to finally have a companion with a college education again.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-seven - Dr.Who: Series 2, Episodes 8-11, "BINGE WATCHING HOOO~"

I think, if I'm going to make any progress towards finishing the seasons currently on Netflix before the year is out, I'm definitely going to have to marathon the series to even come close. Which brings us to our first entry in our December Doctor push which feature homicidal televisions, the Devil, and vlogging.

Fresh off their victory over the Cybermen in the alternate earth where they left Mickey behind, The Doctor and Rose head to 1950's England to witness the coronation of QE2 (monarch, not cruise ship) and run afoul of a sentient television program who feeds off of the electrical activity of the people who watch... THE WIRE... which, for some reason takes their faces off as well.

Of course, during the episode, Rose manages to get blank-faced as well, but don't worry, The Doctor manages to save the day and re-visage both his companion and the entire populace of face-eaten Northenders, not to mention free a family from an abusive father figure and collaborate with the local constabulary.

"Huuuuunnngggrrrryyyy." Bleh. -3 Points. Rose potentially dying a Blank-face? +4 Points. Deus Ex'd Human again? -3 Points.

Next, is another two-parter which pits the Doctor and the last surviving researchers of a black hole and the mysteriously powerful gravity well that is keeping a planet in stable orbit where it really, really, really shouldn't be. It appears that there is something very dark and ominous buried deep under the planet... something that The Doctor just cannot believe to be true... THE DEVIL! Cue mysterious body tattoos, possession, murder, and the mind control of a sentient slave race (the morality of which are only briefly lampshaded) who are used against the humans (and timelord) in an attempt to free THE DEVIL from his eternal prison.

CGI Devil? +1 Point. Doctor having to confront said Devil and waffling over whether or not to defeat him at the cost of Rose (who is, of course, Deus Ex saved at the last second)? -3 Points.

Finally is a single episode which mostly doesn't feature The Doctor at all, as he and Rose only briefly show up in the life of a young Vlogger who is chasing after Doctor sightings thanks to all of the events that have happened during the course of the modern series. A twenty/thirtysomething wastrel named Elton goes about chronicling his brushes with The Doctor and finds several like-minded people... who give him a family. That is, of course, until a domineering personality inserts himself into the group and takes over for his own reasons, while Elton's new family slowly starts disappearing.

I kind of like this one both for it's unique storytelling style, the minor personal dramas of the L.I.'nD.A. members, Moaning Myrtle, how little of The Doctor and Rose we actually see, and the Scooby-chase. Always love me a good Scooby-chase.

Less Doctor? +2 Points. Myrtle? +1 Point. Scooby-chase? +5 Points.

End Tally? +4 Points! Fair play to The Doctor, though he really can't claim much credit as it was Elton and L.I.'nD.A. who gave him such a positive lead.

I think I've found a way to survive the show while binge watching. Diablo 3. Some might call it cheating to multitask in such a way, but I find that I can still watch the show (and be annoyed with it) while grinding out rares and seaching for the ever elusive 1k DPS weapons, legendaries, and set pieces. Pretty sure that is going to be my routine for pounding out the series. If anyone has any objections, take it up with my lawyers! Just let me tell you that The Doctor is MUCH more enjoyable this way.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-seven - Dr.Who: Series 2, Episode 7, "Good thing there was an extra Rickey... er, Mickey... whatever."

As far as two-parters go, Age of Steel was definitely better than it's companion piece, Rise of the Cybermen. It felt very much like its predecessor was all about the tease of Cybermen than about the silly threat they post.

I mean, sure, they have no mercy or need for sleep, and can march endlessly in their quest for more humans to upgrade, but their only weapon is grabbing onto you with their electric jazz hands of death. I have a suspicious feeling that, without their Deus Ex mind control ear buds, just about every soul under seventy could've easily avoided their wrath long enough to find The Doctor's eventual solution.

Still, in spite of that, Age of Steel is a quaint little tale of free will versus control, as evidenced by several of the minor characters who don't survive the night, including (but not limited to): the evil henchman, Rickey, Mrs.Moore, Jackie 2.0, and thousands more residents of London. I honestly don't get why the CyberController didn't just upgrade The Doctor, Rose, and Pete. It's what I would've done as a metallic despot with no soul, but then we wouldn't have had a chance to see David Tennant's stirring speech about the imagination, creativity, passion, and pain of humanity.

Personally, I think I could've written a better one... but that's just my opinion and the Free Market has spoken as I haven't gotten paid the big bucks to do just that.

Another thing to like about this episode is that it finally gives Mickey a chance to be something other than an afterthought, something that the writers were apparently aware of and struggling with for some time. Sure, we'll see him again later (or will we?), but I think this was a fitting enough sendoff to the character such that he didn't need to come back.

As far as cheesy (often alien, but not here) threats go, I don't hate how the Cybermen were presented. They're just as ridiculous as they've always been, but in comparison to the majority of Whovian villainy (Weeping Angels notwithstanding), they're not horrible. I don't know, I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I'm glad they didn't get all that radical a redesign (just look at the furor over Daleks of different colors) from their classic motif, but they're still utterly laughable to look at.

On the whole, I can be happy with this episode because 1)they killed Jackie (well, alt-Jackie, anyway), 2)they killed Mickey (Rickey), 3)Mickey is done being a companion, and 4)Pete isn't ready to be a father in ANY universe. It's still mostly crap to me, but it didn't hurt to watch as much as many other episodes of Dr.Who.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-five - Dr.Who: Series 2, Episode 6, "DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!"

If there's one thing that I hate about Dr.Who, and I've probably mentioned this before, it's the constant refresh of old fan-favorite villains. I know that I'm the minority, but I despise the Daleks and Cybermen, and guess who shows up in this alternate reality of Earth that The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey manage to MacGuffin their way into?

The Cybermen.

Toasters on their heads and everything, the Cybermen have returned to the Whovian universe... well, a version of it anyway, where Britain is a society under siege with curfews for the poor and zeppelins for the rich. This is also a Britain where Rose's father, Pete, is still alive and married to Jackie. Also, they're in the money... and there's no Rose. Well, there is a Rose, but not the one played by Billy Piper. No, the Rose in this universe is a lapdog. Literally.

Anyways, the meat of the episode is the coup that a Howard Hughes type attempts against the President of the UK (Get it? President instead of Prime Minister? It really IS a parallel universe! XP) in the form of the Human 2.0 Upgrade, which turns out to be a forced conversion into Cybermen.

Aside from the return of the Cybermen, I'm also annoyed by the instant stupidity that both Mickey and Rose seem to catch when they find out that they're in an alternate reality. Despite Mickey knowing just what can happen in A-U stories thanks to movies and television, he still runs off to visit his not-dead A-U grandma... and Rose does the same in looking for Pete, her father. I mean, really? Have they learned absolutely nothing thanks to their time traveling antics? Especially Rose after she nearly destroyed all reality by trying to save her father from the car accident that killed him in her own universe?

It's also annoying how spoonfed the clues are concerning the "eventual" reveal of the Cybermen. Whether it's the earbud antennae that form the familiar head box or the out of focus Cyber at the beginning and the near constant shots of their stomping feet during the rank and file attack on Jackie's birthday party... it's all just one big already spoiled tease.

More ham-fisted writing on behalf of the crew, I suppose. Only so much you can do to get the primary conflicts of an episode this ridiculous started.

But, it's all to be expected, I guess. Dr.Who is only okay on its best of days, so there are bound to be some pandering crapfests here and there, even if it had been improving lately. Sad thing for me is that this is a two part episode (which I will get to, probably in the next few days). Such is life.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Seventeen - Dr Who: Series 2, Episode 5, "Love for a Time Traveller"

It's been a loooooong while since I've done any Doctor Who and, with the 50th Anniversary looming on the horizon (and friends posting about it on Facebook), I decided it was time to take a step back and resume my viewings. The result? A fairly sweet little love story, even if its burdened by the typical Whovian MacGuffins and Handwaves.

Set dually on a warp ship in the 51st century far in the expanses of space and in many slivers of time in the life of Madame de Pompadour in 18th century France, the story unfolds on clockwork automatons employed by the ship to haunt her years until the time is ripe to harvest her brain. It's all very silly, but gives rise to an infatuation on her part for the rescuing Doctor who visits her at many different moments in her life, both saving and intriguing her. This infatuation develops into an intimacy that even Rose cannot compete with.

As far as Doctor Who episodes go, its rather fun, despite its sad and lonely ending. Sure, its a bit of a stretch for the Doctor to form such an enormous attachment in such a small amount of time considering how long-lived (and already taken, unofficially, by Rose) he is, but it's nice to see the Doctor experience love, for however short a period of time, that isn't to one of his convenient, long-time companions. It's one of the reasons I love River Song (whom we technically haven't met yet... but soonish).

Now, maybe all of the lingering looks and chemistry had a little something to do with the fact that the actress portraying Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles) was actually dating David Tennant at the time, or maybe it has to do with the period clothing and the ample cleavage it shows off, but who knows?

Mickey and Rose aren't as annoying here as they usually can be, which is a blessing as I've hated Mickey as the mope he was previously. Their explorations throughout the ship while the Doctor is playing kissyface are cute, as is the bit of "girl talk" that Reinette and Rose share that lampshades the trials and triumphs of loving the Doctor.

All in all, not a bad bit of television. Still a crap series, overall, but one I don't have problems watching idly. I don't think I'll ever be a full blown, die-hard Whovian like many of my friends, but this episode serves as an example that they're not all bad. They're just mostly 'not great!'

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Thirty-one - Dr.Who: Series 2, Episode 4, "Is... is that Giles?"

Well... after being banished by Queen Victoria, herself, it seems as though The Doctor is back on his game, infiltrating a modern day alien situation at a recently reformed school where kids are testing off the charts, posing as a science teacher (while Rose is in the kitchen and Mickey is running tech support/research).

It seems as though all the improvements to the school are thanks to the new headmaster (Anthony Stewart Head) and his retinue of new teachers and lunchladies. They're up to something sinister, eating orphans and forcing students to randomly type to cryptic green glyphs, and it's up to The Doctor, et al., to get to the bottom of it with the help of two familiar faces from Classic Dr. Who: K-9 and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen)... both former companions of the Doctor's (Three, Four, and Five).

Of course, it's your typical Whovian adventure, full of MacGuffins and Technobabble, but what else is new? What's really fun about the episode is the cattiness, both between Sarah Jane and Rose... and Mickey and K-9. Well, cattiness on Mickey's part as K-9 is nothing if not helpful, even if it is mildly passive-aggressive during the climax action sequence with the car. Sarah Jane and Rose, though? Fun, fun stuff! Too bad they managed to reconcile as I would've preferred them to remain icy towards each other as romantic rivals, instead of the stereotypical commiseration between gals in the same boat.

It is nice to see some character continuity bleed over from Classic Who in the form of Sarah Jane, though. She had to be my favorite companion back in the day (whenever I'd watch Tom Baker's version on Betamax at my Aunts' place in the 80's), and was the quintessential example of an assistant/companion until, I think, Amy Pond came around.

I do think it's a little sad, though, seeing her now that Elisabeth Sladen has passed. I never did get into her spinoff series, The Sarah Jane Adventures (not that I'm all that into the Who story universe to begin with), but I'm glad she carried the character on as long as she did and I hope, if there is an afterlife, that she goes wherever good companions (or actresses) go.

AnyWho....

While most of the alien action in School Reunion is blah CGI, I think the most annoying feature of the episode is Anthony Head's bat-grimace. I love the man to death (even if I can't stand some of his other projects, like Repo! The Genetic Opera), but the macular distortions he was forced to portray here were just hammy beyond belief. Still, I did enjoy his "Join Us" speech to The Doctor.

As for the rest? Well, I just wish the chips around here boosted IQ. Then I'd feel less guilty gobbling them up like the big fat pig that I am. It's a fun episode, at the least... with cheese-factor that is easily suffered.

Oh, gods... I hope that doesn't mean that my resistance is breaking down and I'm slowly being converted into a Whovian. Is there an antidote? Say, like, watching Community... where the Who references are meta and ironic?

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Three - Dr.Who: Series 2, Episode 3, "One of our more 'frumpy' queens... they're ALL 'frumpy', aren't they?"

Finally, after episodes of dreck, there's actually some Dr.Who worth watching... and it's about an alien werewolf, no less.

Set back in the late nineteenth century, during the reign of Queen Victoria... specifically because she is actually THERE... "Tooth and Claw" pits The Doctor and Rose Tyler against a Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform (nee: Alien Werewolf) and some mad Catholic Monks who have somehow developed super-awesome Shaolin bo-fighting styles such that they wire-fu their way around the Torchwood manor house's entire compliment of staff and aristocrats.

I especially liked the touch where they shuck their brown robes for orange garb... which is rather typical for Shaolin monks.

Anyways, the episode starts with the wolves baiting their trap and continues with Rose and The Doctor talking their way into the company of Victoria Regina herself, who happens to be riding through the Scottish countryside thanks to a felled tree blocking her train's progress. The wolves (well, only one wolf, really... and a crap ton of mad monks with staves/guns) want the Queen specifically to infect her with the intelligent lycanthropy virus and usher in the "Reign of the Wolf" which the Doctor hints would be filled with steampunky glory.

Kinda makes me wish they had succeeded, really.

To make a long story short (too late), it seems that the Torchwood Estate was really built to be a trap for the Wolf, not the Queen, and after all the obligatory Whovian chase scenes where extras buy it and Rose, the Doctor, and any plot important characters survive, a MacGuffin is revealed to thwart the beast and save the day.

Really, "Tooth and Claw" is like most any bad Dr.Who episode in its conception, but somehow Russel T. Davies managed to produce an actually believable story arc, from its prologue to its filler scenes to its denouement. Maybe it's all lengths that Rose goes to in pulling a catchphrase from the queen or jokes about her "nakedness" or the primordial Torchwood roots, but nothing ever seems out of place or really all that stretched.

It's been forever, but I've actually managed to watch an episode of Dr.Who that I really rather enjoyed... and I had gotten to the point where I wasn't expecting to ever have that feeling in conjunction with this series again.

Go fig.

Plus, I was treated to the previews of the next episode which features both Anthony Steward Head (GILES!) and the return of Classic Who Companion K-9~! Things are definitely looking up!

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Eighty-two - Dr Who: Series 2, Episode 2, "Half a year gone... so fast, so slow."

Like a dog returning to his vomit, I just can't help coming back to The Doctor... especially when friends are over. Personally, I would've been satisfied with some communal Adventure Time or HIMYM.

Oh, well.

With David Tennant firmly in the driver's seat as the new Doctor, he and Rose travel far, far into the future and visit New Earth and New New York (but not my favorite New New York of Futurama ;_;). Once there, they find themselves in a typical pickle with an old foe.

Seems that the stretched flesh bag called Cassandra managed to survive her charring heatstroke back on Platform One in episode two of the first series (coincidence? or just lazy writing?) and is a bit resentful when she sees Rose gallivanting about on New Earth. Feeling in the mood for a walkabout, she steals Rose's body and decides to blackmail the Feline Sisters who run the future hospital that The Doctor has been called to via his psychic stationary.

There's not much interesting here beyond the return of someone else from Platform One, The Face of Boe, as the majority of the second half of the episode revolves around everyone running from the horde of tank-born zombie humans who long to be held but whose every touch is death.

In typical Whovian fashion, The Doctor simply mixes every cure held in the hospital and turns on the disinfecting elevator's shower setting and clears up one small batch... who then proceed to cure the rest of the zombies in an reversal of their original attack, touch.

Blech.

Dr Who is so... freaking... stupid.

What could be an intensely interesting morality play is glazed over in thirty seconds of The Doctor shouting, Cassandra mincing, and the Cat-Nun's hissing. Honestly, its pathetic that the majority of Dr Who episodes are just him and his companion running about, narrowly avoiding being killed (convenient, that) until enough airtime has passed for 9 or 10 or 11 to break out the MacGuffin and save the world.

Even when they're given the opportunity to do something interesting (like have Cassandra create her own time paradox by stealing her own body), they waste the opportunity and briefly (so VERY briefly) humanize her in the stupidest of fashions.

I mean, really? Cassandra spends the whole episode jumping from body to body with no real consequence other than The Doctor getting terse (that is, when she's not hijacking him), but suddenly grows a conscience when her devoted retainer is no longer a viable option?

Double-u, tee, eff.

I really, really need to start getting drunk for this. At least, the next time I see New Earth, there will be talking kittens.

I think.

It's funny. My last Dr Who mantra was "just gotta wait till Tennant, just gotta wait till Tennant." Now I've switched to "just gotta make it to River, just gotta make it to River."

Only way I'll survive, I suppose.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Fifty-six - Dr. Who: Series 2, Episode 1, "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister? Yes, we do know who you are, Mum."

Alright, it's been long enough, I think, to recover from the terrible cheese that was Christopher Eccleston's run of Dr.Who. It's time now for the slightly less stinky Roquefort that was David Tennant's tenure (see what I did there?) as he assumes the mantle of the last Time Lord.

Well, not really, but that's a bit of a spoiler, now, isn't it?

Anyways, freshly regenerated after sacrificing his ninth incarnation (supposedly there's a limit of thirteen, so we're getting close), Rose (Billy Piper) doesn't exactly know what to do considering the man that she's heavily hinted to be in love with has just changed right before her eyes.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, it's Christmastime... and right on schedule for yet another alien crisis, the TARDIS crashes down with an unconscious Doctor and befuddled Rose, right into the waiting arms of Mickey and Jackie. Of course, it doesn't take long for "pilot fish" to get a whiff of The Doctor's leaking Time Lord energy, and a small threat in Santa suits with whirling Christmas Trees of Death provide a distraction until the real big bad appears, The Sycorax.

It's all your rather typical deus ex tripe, but there are a few gleaming moments that shine through. For one thing, there's Harriet Jones who has become Prime Minister after her involvement in the first season run-in with the Slitheen. Still introducing herself to everyone, she has just the right amount of quirky charm to make me smile immensely.

That is, of course, until the end of the episode where she makes a statesman's choice, activating the much hinted at Torchwood and earning The Doctor's ire.

Overall, the episode is just another instance of silly aliens with overly hostile designs on the planet being thwarted, at the last minute, by The Doctor... said hostile aliens, of course, having been previously delayed in their conquest by the companion's mincing/dithering.

At this point, I pretty much have given up on expecting superior quality from Dr.Who. But, I think that I'm better for having had said realization. It means I'm much more forgiving when it comes to how terrible the show actually is.

For instance, there are quite a few good one-liners... I mean, a Lion King quote that is lampshaded? Fun! A Hitchhiker's Guide reference? Even better! It's just that there's way too much that is just thrown about, like The Doctor's punishment of Harriet Jones... way too easy.

I will say this, though... it's soooooo much more palatable thanks to Tennant's plucky charisma. I realize I'm slighting Chris Eccleston a bit in saying so, but his run was just atrocious. With David, I think I might not go into fits after each new episode. That's a tremendous plus in my book.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Eighty-seven - Dr.Who: Series 1, Episodes 12 and 13, or "I MADE IT! I FINALLY MADE IT!"

Wow... it's been a longish, very boring trip to slog through the first season of the modern Dr.Who.

Yes, it's no surprise by now that I hate the pedantic, deus ex ridden adventures of Christopher Eccleston and Billy Piper. While the first series has given us probably one of the better companions in all Whovian History, Captain Jack Harkness, it's also brought me to tears at just how stupid a scifi show can be.

The first of this sortof two-parter is Bad Wolf, which brings everyone back to Satellite 5, the orbital media platform from back in episode 7, only something's wrong again.

Set many years after The Doctor shut down the weird shuggoth looking alien running the news, Satellite 5 is now a Gamestation where the game shows of the ancient BBC (see: modern day BBC game shows like Big Brother and Weakest Link) have been turned into death matches where only one (and sometimes NONE) survive for the entertainment of the Earthican masses.

Bleh. It's a pop culture Running Man. Boring.

The twist, of course, is that some nefarious entity has done this to human society from the shadows, and it's up to The Doctor and co. to find out who and why.

I think what pisses me off about this (and other episodes) is just how much utter crap the deus ex devices and macguffins are. At least with other scifi shows (like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Fringe) they try to make their technobabble fit and be, well, believable. Here we've got a "transmat" beam that conveniently pulls the Time Warp Trio out of the supposedly impenetrable TARDIS and a "disintegrator" that doesn't disintegrate.

Really, the only saving grace of episode 12 (titled Bad Wolf), is the fashion game show with Captain Jack... who no only rock's the segment, but pulls a laser pistol out of *ahem* his arse to save himself when the robo-fashionistas turn homicidal.

Go, Cap'n Jack!

Anyways, Rose is supposedly killed by The Weakest Link's Anne-droid, but is really sent to... DUN DUN DUNNNNN... the Dalek fleet! It seems the one found in the vault in episode 6 wasn't the last. The Dalek Emperor managed to survive with his flagship and has been slowly building a new army of Daleks by harvesting humanity... one cell at a time.

Lord, that must've taken forever... also, @#$#*(@%Y&^$()$!@!!

And that brings us to The Parting of the Ways, episode 13, where The Doctor rushes in and somehow manages to materialize the TARDIS around Rose (and a token Dalek who is quickly dispatched by Cap'n Jack)... and then pops onto the command bridge to speak to the Daleks without fear of EXTERMINATION thanks to yet another deus ex, a hyper force field.

Ugh.

Then we cut to over a half-freaking-hour of the trio "getting ready" for the Dalek invasion of Earth. Cap'n Jack organizes the leftovers of Satellite 5 into a delaying action force, The Doctor begins building another deus ex, a "Delta Wave" generator that will fry all brains in its path, and Rose is... well, sent home to modern day England where she spends all her scenes dithering then trying to break into the Heart of the Tardis so she can gain its mystical time warp mojo (seen in episode 11) for herself so she can save The Doctor.

Seriously... they waste a half hour on this crap.

BUT... to make it worse... the climax occurs with the Doctor refusing to wipe out the entire solar system to save the universe from the Daleks (you bloody coward) just in time for Rose to pop in and use her brand new TIME GODDESS powers to revive the recently Exterminated Cap'n Jack, save The Doctor, and turn all the Daleks (including the Emperor) into dust with her fancy glowy eyes.

OoooooOOOOOOooooooo~! Save us with your Special Eyes, Rose!

Of course, so much power would melt her brains, so The Doctor kisses Rose to draw the glowy bits out of her ocular cavities, thereby dooming him to regeneration and semi-quick actor switchification.

Gag me with a freaking spoon.

I hate... Hate... HATE this crap. HATE IT! How in the world did it get made? Why in the world is it SO freaking popular? Why am I tearing my hair out in sheer frustration?!

But it's done.

I made it through the season. Barely.

David Tennant in is the hiz-zouse and is making quips about his new teeth. I can only hope it will get better from here. Please, please, pleaaaaaase, let it get better from here. I have the strangest feeling that it won't for a while, but the hope is there. It's a tiny inkling of hope, ready to be crushed under the malevolent boot of reality, but it's there... squirming around in the darkness of my soul.

Too melodramatic?

Time for another Dr.Who sabbatical for me. I've ruined my palate for quite some time, I think... but with Adventure Time being added to the instant queue just around the corner? There's that, at least.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~